


If I die young

by Shae_la_Hyene



Series: Hurt one-shots because I cannot write anything else [2]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Don't @ Me, Hurt, Hurt No Comfort, Kastor has potential, M/M, but def not enough, guess who wrote yet another hurty one shot ?, the hurt is still there though, warned about the violence but it's not really graphic, well some comfort, you should be fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:47:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26302945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shae_la_Hyene/pseuds/Shae_la_Hyene
Summary: Soulmates are rare, and you never truly know if you have one.Until they die.Laurent dies, a little too early, at fourteen.
Relationships: Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince)
Series: Hurt one-shots because I cannot write anything else [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948687
Comments: 19
Kudos: 42





	If I die young

It all happened very fast.  
One moment, Laurent was asleep, exhausted after too long hours between red sheets.  
The next, he opened his eyes to see his uncle slit his throat.  
It was a clean, deep cut. It did hurt, but not for long. His uncle was not one for messy situations, and wore a calm detached expression all the while. Like killing him was just a formality, getting rid of something that had grew to take too much room.  
At least it happened really fast, so it didn’t hurt that much.  
Then came the memories.

Soulmates were rare, a one in a million thing. So of course every child had dreamed of it, of having a soulmate waiting for them somewhere. But as they grew, they all knew how unlikely it was. Damen had made peace with not having a soulmate pretty early.  
He was meant to be a king, having a soulmate that you probably won’t be able to love and marry was more of a curse in a situation like his, after all.  
So when the pain struck him, it was a surprise.  
His soulmate had just died.  
Before they were meant to meet, breaking the line of events fate had had planned for them. Only memories of that story that didn’t happen remained. With the pain.  
Laurent was dead.  
Before he could even register anything, he felt an immense pain swelling up in his heart, strong enough to make him scream and fall to his knees on the hard marble floors of the palace.  
Then came the memories.  
A lifetime of it, flashes of blond hair in the sun, Laurent’s smile against bed sheets. The pain, and the happiness. A lifetime of loving Laurent, gone forever.  
It took him some time to realize he was sobbing and screaming from the pain and sorrow of it all. A bit more to be aware of hands on him, squeezing his shoulder, trying to get him to stand up, and worried voices.  
They did not matter, they were not his soulmate’s.

Laurent couldn’t catch his breath, it was terrifying.  
He reached up for his neck, but only found a garish wound, the very same one that killed him. Oh, right. So that’s why he couldn’t breathe. He probably didn’t need to, now.  
He opened his eyes, slowly. Where was he ?  
It was too bright, too white, not where he was just then. When his eyes finally settled, he recognize a room in the palace of Ios. It was a strange thing to remember a place you had never been. Not in this life. He only knew it for the time he would have seen it, if… events had been more fortunate to him.  
Faintly, pain blossomed in his chest for that future he wouldn’t have, but he suppressed it. Regrets never did anything good.  
There was a lot of people there, and Laurent was naked, with that big ugly wound on his throat. But none of them seem to notice him. The perks of being dead, Laurent supposed.  
On the ground, in the middle of everyone else, there was his soulmate, sobbing.  
“Oh, Damen,” Laurent whispered.  
Slowly, he dropped to his knees, and reached out to touch Damen’s arm.  
“Sweetheart,” he called softly.  
Damen perked up in shock. He was hearing Laurent. And, judging by his face when he opened his eyes, he could see him too.  
For a second or two, Laurent felt somehow self conscious of his nakedness. But he shrugged it off. Damen had seen him naked before. Would have seen him…  
Damen’s eyes caught his, and Laurent saw hope blooming there, right before the gaze settled on the wound, and then it was sorrow and tears again.  
“I’m so sorry,” said Damen between sobs. “It’s my fault, I should have protected you, it’s all my fault !”  
Laurent couldn’t help but smile at that. It was so… Damen of him. Typical for the honorable barbarian to blame himself for Laurent’s uncle being a despicable man.  
Reaching up, he cupped Damen’s face and brushed his thumb over the trail of tears.  
“No it’s not,” Laurent said gently. “It’s just… an unfortunate course of events. But it’s going to be alright. I didn’t suffer, I’m going to be fine, you don’t need to worry about me.”  
Damen’s hand wrapped around his, and held it closer.  
“It’s fine, really,” said Laurent with a soft smile. “It’s… at least it ended, and I don’t… have to go through more years of that. And I won’t have hurt you like I did last time. I know you think it was worth it, and maybe it was, but, at least you have a lot less scars this way.”  
Damen squeezed his hand harder.  
“I would have taken a lot of scars for the chance to grow old with you, Laurent…”  
Laurent knew. But he was running out of positive things to say.  
“I…” Damen started, looking determined. “I’ll kill him, I’ll avenge you, I promise.”  
Laurent shook his head.  
“That would be nice, but don’t go off doing something stupid and getting killed. You have a whole life in front of you, don’t waste it all on revenge, I’ll be alright anyway. I want… I want you to be happy. To get another chance.”  
This time it was Damen who shook his head, stubbornly.  
“I have to protect Vere,” he said firmly.  
Pride and love filled Laurent’s chest, and he wasn’t sure he could handle it. Of course. There was no wonder why Laurent couldn’t have helped falling in love with that man. He was just too perfect.  
But rather than admit that, Laurent raised his chin and said.  
“You do, actually. You’d better make me proud, Damianos. I’ll be watching.”  
Damen huffed out a laugh, not fooled one second, but then started crying some more.  
Laurent dropped his hand and took Damen’s whole body against his instead.  
His fourteen years old body was truly minuscule against Damen’s, even as he was younger than he remembered. But Damen didn’t seem to mind, his head coming to nestle in Laurent’s neck, Laurent’s fingers petting his curls softly.  
He would miss that, Damen’s hair, his body, his warmth. Laurent would miss a lot of things about Damen…  
“I’m going to miss you so much,” Damen whispered against his skin.  
“I know, sweetheart,” answered Laurent. “I’m sorry, I should have been more careful…”  
Damen cut him off by shaking his head against him.  
“No, it’s not your fault. Say it.”  
Laurent sighed, another smile forming on his face.  
“It’s not my fault,” he admitted.  
Gently, he pulled Damen off of him, until they were facing again.  
Tears were slowing down in his eyes, replaced with fierce determination.  
“Make me proud,” Laurent said again.  
Damen nodded once, firmly, and it made Laurent smile. He raised himself a little, and dropped one last kiss to Damen’s forehead.

As he watched the love of his life fade away, Damen promised himself not to call him back. Laurent deserved his peace. He deserved to go away trusting Damen not to mess it up. And he wouldn’t mess anything up. He would do the best he could ever do, and make Laurent proud, so he could face him after his own death, and see him happy.  
He could do it.  
“Damen what’s going on ?”  
It was Kastor’s panicked voice next to him, and Damen turned to watch his brother with a new eye. He wouldn’t mess that up either, he promised himself.  
“Was it… your soulmate ?” Kastor asked hesitantly.  
Damen schooled his face, and slowly raised to his feet.  
Facing his brother, he said calmly.  
“I have to go to Vere.”


End file.
